


Take Me Back (unfinished)

by ottergawa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adams a teacher/coach, Art, Baseball, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Falling In Love, First Love, Fluff and Angst, Freedom, Gay Keith (Voltron), Homesick Lance (Voltron), I promise there's more than sports, Lance and Keith fight?, Lance really likes baseball, Lions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Parents, Pining, Rivals, Shiro owns a sports bar, Summer Vacation, Teen Romance, adult klance, everyone likes sports, klangst, my art, they all like baseball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 08:54:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16014545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottergawa/pseuds/ottergawa
Summary: Lance Mcclain is a Major League Baseball player who, while loving baseball, loves his family more. This little fact causes him to take a spur of the moment break from MLB and move back down with his parents for the summer. What was meant to be an enjoyable summer spent with family and friends is later changed to disdain when he locks eyes with his high school rival, Keith Kogane.Keith is but, a normal man who just happens to like knives, his dog, and also work three jobs. Well, really a convenience store job and teaching martial arts, coaching middle school baseball was more of an underpaid hobby Shiro suggested.  Overall Keith is satisfied with his life of throwing knives and walking his dog, that is until he spots Lance Mclain in the convenience store he just happens to work at.While Lance is completely against the idea of seeing Keith again and Keith really just wants to make up for the past, with the help of their friends they may be able to rekindle the fire they thought was long gone. In the end, what was once meant to be an easy going summer for both of them, becomes a strange bundle of old memories, unanswered questions, and rabid fans.





	Take Me Back (unfinished)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first archive of our own fanfiction. I've been watching Voltron for nearly two years but finally got around to posting a fanfiction. I thought this would be good writing practice so I hope you enjoy (even if you don't really like sports I'm not a super huge fan of them either). I'll most likely add art to this fic once I get my new tablet pen. I'd also like to thank my beta reader whom I will tag when she finds her AO3 account.

May 2018

It was a cool summer day, not too hot, not too cold, the kind of weather where you could wear a light jacket, but not shorts. Not too long from now the weather would grow gradually warmer leading to fun summer days, but as for now, it was stuck in that dull transition between the seasons. Lance took note of this as he watched the boring clouds slowly drift through the boring blue sky. The weather was just so bland and uneventful in his mind. Right now he thought that it should be pouring rain like in those dramatic soap operas he would sometimes see on TV, or it should be snowing so hard that his Uber can’t go much farther. That, he thought would be much more fitting for such an exciting yet nerve-racking day, not the average weather he was experiencing.

“Ten minutes until we arrive,” Nick, the driver said in a rough voice that really didn’t match his short stumpy physique. Lance became slightly more nervous when he said that, but for every ounce of nervousness he felt his grin became twice as wide in excitement. Looking down at his phone he decided to add a stop before his final destination so he could grab a few items. Staring out the window he couldn’t seem to shake the smile off of his face. Lance felt like this was going to be a great summer.

 

* * *

 

Stepping into the small convenience store, Lance immediately went to the small flower section in the corner. He gazed at the rack of flowers, finger pointing at each group of flowers he looked at. He soon settled on a bouquet of pink carnations he thought his mother would appreciate since they were quite beautiful flowers with, according to Lances Wikipedia search, an equally great meaning. A few seconds later he's moving towards the candy aisle when he notices someone familiar in the corner of his eye. Glancing over, all Lance could see was a magazine rack filled with rows and rows of cheap, tasteless gossip magazines. He peered at that section of the store for a longer time then he should have, unable to get whoever he saw out of his mind. Currently distracted by a magazine rack, he continued walking… right into someone else.

“Oops! Sorry! I was totally not paying attention,” he said hurriedly waving his hands in front of him a bit, not looking at the person who was ahead of him. He had even begun to walk away from the situation.

“Lance, is that you?” For a second it felt like Lances world had become a freeze frame in a movie. Old memories of intense sporting matches, a hardcore, crush obsessed Lance, and a final sad goodbye flooded into his mind. When the world finally seemed to be in motion again Lance continued to look ahead stricken with old, unfulfilled, teenage emotions. Even if Lance wasn’t facing the girl, he would be able to recognize that posh British accent anywhere.

Turning around Lance cleared his throat, “Uh yeah it is, long time no see, Allura.” She was just as breathtaking as she was when she was a few years younger. Lance would even say she was more beautiful than before. Her teenage charm had become more of a womanly grace in the physical sense. There were a few notable differences about her, like how her body had filled out a bit more or how her eyes no longer held that teenage curiosity, but more of a calming, mature one. If teenage Lance was here right now, he would be giving her his best pick up line. The thing that threw him off the most though, was how Allura’s signature long white hair was now replaced with a more traditional bob cut.

“It’s been way too long, Lance! I mean with me moving back to the UK and you off doing your pilot business,” she smiled the kind of smile that would have made a high school Lance melt into a blushing pile of goo. He was older now so things like that didn’t completely entice him, but it still made him happy to have an old friend smile at him.

“It has been a while, hasn’t it? I mean you even cut off a ton of your hair!” He said gazing at the way her hair now curled around her face and neck instead of falling around her in long lumps of curls.

“Yeah…” She said twisting a small curl next to her ear, her eyes downcast. She seemed a bit glum when she spoke again, her large grin shrinking, ”I just became so busy with my position in my dad’s charity foundation, and along with some other things, taking care of my hair became a hassle. So I figured the best option would be to just chop it off. Although, I do think I’ll let it grow out again once I'm not so busy, but who knows when that’s gonna be…” Gazing into his eyes she gave him another, smaller, smile, ”We should catch up sometime, perhaps over coffee?”

“That would be amazing actually I’ll be here all summer so we have plenty of time to talk,” Lance responded grinning at her right before he looked down at his watch, “Um… I have to leave like right now actually, but uh I can give you my number.”

After a brief exchange of numbers, he practically ran through the store grabbing his family's favorite treats. During checkout, he noticed how late he was and cursed himself for getting so distracted. Rushing outside as quickly as possible after the checkout he jumped into the uber’s back seat accidentally smacking his head into the car door.

 

* * *

 

When Lance finally arrived at his childhood home he felt unbelievably giddy like a kid before Christmas, but what he gets instead of presents is to see his family after such a long time. He unloaded his suitcases from the car and left them near the front door so he could walk in while holding the flowers. Within seconds of him pressing the doorbell, a smile on display and flowers in hand, the door flung open. The first thing that happened was his mom suffocating him in a hug, then his niece and nephew grabbed on to him screaming “Uncle Lance! Uncle Lance!”, followed by his sisters and dad walking over to see him all of them smiling ear to ear. Lance had to wipe away the few tears that were building up in his eyes.

“Wow! You two are so big now!” He probably shouldn't have been so surprised since the last time he had really seen them they were only seven and five, but now they were eleven and nine. Bending down to his niece and nephew Lance said, “I didn't know you two would be here.”

“We really wanted to see you! Cuz you've been gone so long! We missed you!” His nephew, Sylvio, responded while his niece, Nadia, just continually nodded along.

“Well, I'm going to be here all summer so we can hang out all the time. We can build forts and have nerf gun wars, cuz you know,” he leaned in whispering, ”I'm like the best sharpshooter.”

While the kids were giggling and discussing what plans they had for their uncle this summer, Lance stood up to address his mom. At first glance a normal person may not have been able to identify how his mom had changed in a few years, however, Lance wasn't a normal person to his mom so he could see all those changes. He could tell that her hair had begun to grow a few gray hairs here and there, wrinkles had begun to become a tad more prominent along her face and hands, and that she was a bit bigger than she was a few years ago.

“I got you these, Mom,” he smiled, handing her the pink flowers.

Taking them she quickly kissed his cheek, ”Thank you, Lance, they’re very beautiful, I'll have to put them in a vase in the middle of the dining room table.”

While talking to his mom, his sisters and his dad brought in his few suitcases. When his mom left to start preparing dinner, Lance grabbed the treats he had bought and headed over to his sisters.

“I got you guys your favorite candy,” he smirked shaking the small bags of chocolates and caramels in front of them before handing them to his sisters.

“Thanks, Lance,” his older sister Veronica said smirking back at him. Her short brown bangs pressing up against her glasses, she playfully teased him, ”So, how's the job been treating you? Meet any cute ladies?”

“Well there's always a few ladies who can’t resist ol’ Lancey Lance’s signature charm,” he put his arms on his hips and flashed a smile. His sisters laughing at the playful banter.

“I’m sure,” she said sarcastically, poking him in his side. After giving Lance a few more sarcastic remarks, Veronica changed her tone, “It's really great to see you. again, Lance. We all really missed you, even Luis and Marco. And you know how they can be sometimes all big macho men.”

“I really missed you guys too,” he paused his, ”speaking of which, where are Luis and Marco.”

“They stopped by either Lowes or Home Depot to get some more wood and paint. They should be back in about twenty minutes,” his other sister, Rachel, answered, “Mom’s redoing the deck so ya know it doesn’t look so old and rotten. She also wanted it to attach to the new pool in the back.”

“Whoah! Mom got a pool!.” Lance stopped, suspicious, ”Are you sure this our real mom. I mean she would have never gotten us a pool when we were younger and I swear we asked her every day, but no we had to walk fifteen minutes in the blazing sun to the very crowded public pool.”

“I know right!” Veronica added pushing up her glasses, “ I swear she said something about getting older and needing a place to relax during the summer. In my opinion, she’s using it to get the grandkids and everyone else to visit more.”

“Sounds like mom,” his other sister nodded along, giggling at Veronica's remark.

Not too long after, their conversation drifted off and Veronica went to answer a knock at the door. Lance looked over nervously at his father, he knew he needed to talk to him sometime, but he didn't know if he was quite ready for it. Although, it was now or never he figured. So, he walked over a bit awkwardly to talk to his father. However, this was interrupted by his second suffocating hug of the day not by his father, but by his best friend Hunk.

“Oh man I missed you so much,” Hunk sobbed smiling and squeezed Lance even harder. It was to the point where Lance accepted his future death by suffocation. Hunk started to incoherently ramble, “It's just so different seeing you in person again not just talking to you on the phone. You have so much to catch up on. Like you’ll never believe who’s back in town. That reminds me Allura’s back too. Also, Pidge has like the coolest project she’s working on. Plus Sabrina!”

“Du-ude you're suffocating me-e,” he choked unable to move.

“Oh sorry,” he said releasing Lance. He scratched the back of his head anxiously, ”It’s just been way to long man. The last time I saw you was at my wedding like a year ago. Even then we weren’t together too long, but now we have an entire summer to catch up. Ooh also I brought dessert so where should I leave that?”

“You can put it in the fridge.” Grinning Lance looked behind Hunk and saw Shay smiling at him while gently rocking something in her arms. The movement caused the large earrings she always wore to swing a bit.

He walked over to her and peeked into the little bundle in her arms, ”This must be little Sabrina.”

“Yeah, you can call her Sabby though, that's what Hunk and I call her most the time,” Shay answered, her hazel eyes focused down on the three-month-old baby, “You can hold her if you want, but be careful she's still sleeping.”

Shay transferred the baby to Lance and he began to gently rock her like he did when his niece and nephew were babies. You wouldn’t be able to define most of the baby’s feature since she was so young. Although the closer he looked at the baby he could see that she had the beginnings of a nose that would eventually closely resemble Hunks, lightish brown skin that was a clear mixture of Shays and Hunk and was chubby enough that her face looked like it was stuck in a permanent pout while she slept.

“She’s very beautiful,” Lance said fondly. She gave a slight nod her straight dark hair moving along with her head. His eyes softened the longer he looked at the baby, “I just can’t believe you guys already have a baby I mean your so young your only what? Twenty three? I can’t remember the last time I had a steady relationship.”

“It’s not like things haven’t been hard for us. We have to work long hours, sometimes it feels like we never sleep, and have less time to hang out with our friends. Some days it all of it feels impossible, but we work through it for each other and Sabby. In the end, I don’t think we’ll regret starting a family so early.”

 

* * *

 

Why had no one told him? Keith thought as he sprinted and ducked behind some rack in the convenience store he worked at. Yeah, it wasn’t very professional, but he thought avoiding an awkward situation was worth the risk. He had seen Lance Mcclain and you can say that their relationship did not end on the best terms. After a few seconds, Keith heard Lance run into someone who he could guess from the voice was Allura. She had stopped by the shop a few times and they had a few conversations. Seeing this as his opportunity Keith ran over to a nearby aisle and silently listened to Allura and Lance’s conversation. He wasn’t trying to be creepy, but his curiosity got the better of him. Most of it was just a basic conversation and then he heard the next part.

“That would be amazing actually I’ll be here all summer so we have plenty of time to talk,” Lance said to Allura his voice muffled by the aisle in between. All summer?! Keith thought he could have avoided Lance for a week at most since this was a relatively small town and this was the only convenience store around. Now though there was no way he could avoid him, unless he just stopped going to work and never came out of his house. Not too soon after he heard Lance say bye to Allura, Keith saw Lance run to the next aisle and grab a few treats. Since he seemed in a hurry he didn’t notice Keith who was just an aisle across from him. Eventually, Lance ran out of the store and into a car with a stranger that Keith presumed was an Uber since there were no taxi companies nearby. He watched through the store window as Lance jumped into the car and… smacked his head into the side of the car door. Wow, he thought people really don’t change.

The rest of the time he was busy cleaning up the store and helping the few customers that came in. Normally Keith would be able to forget about Lance and just work himself to near death, but unlike how to store was normally crowded, today it was more of a ghost town. With everything as clean as could be and no one to help he was stuck to his thoughts. Why was Lance back? And for a whole summer? You would think he would be busy being a pilot and all, or that's what Hunk had told him at least. In the last ten months, Keith had lived here he hadn’t seen Lance once (even then Lance didn't notice Keith) and he was kinda hoping it would stay that way.

 

* * *

 

Keith always road his bike to work. Except for today, why today of all days? One of his tires just happened to pop and didn’t have time to get it fixed before he went to work. So, today instead of taking the long way home Keith had opted to take a short way. The reason Keith always took the long way was that he enjoyed the scenery and the fact that it was more trees then it was housed. It, however, had nothing to do with the fact that the other way he always had to pass Lance’s family’s house and every time he passed that house he felt guilty.

Walking down the neighborhood's sidewalk Keith neared Lance’s family home. It was already dark outside and it seemed Lance’s family had left the windows open. Through the window screens, he could hear loud laughter. He even heard someone exclaim loudly about how good Hunk’s brownies were. So Hunk did know about Lance and didn’t bother to tell him? Not noticing he had stopped he looked up at the house one more time and made brief eye contact with Lance’s nephew, who looked a lot like Lance, through the window. This was enough for Keith to scurry home at a faster pace than before.

Arriving home, Keith announced, “I’m home, Shiro.”

Almost as soon as he said that Shiro peeked his head out of the side of the kitchen, “Just in time. Dinners ready.”

“What is it?” His face became scrunched up, and his eyebrows raised as he took off his weathered white work shoes.

“Spaghetti and breadsticks.”

Keith walked into the kitchen and sat down at his normal spot. He scanned the kitchen warily. He must still be at the high school if Shiro's cooking he thought. Every time Shiro made food it came out stiff, and as black as charcoal. When he was younger Keith would refuse to eat it till it got to the point where he didn't eat for two days straight. Although, now he couldn't help but appreciate that Shiro had made him dinner just in time for him to arrive home from work. Especially since that time he lived alone, and only ate microwavable dinners to eat in his bedroom. However, when he moved back into Shiro’s place Shiro was adamant on having a family dinner.

Shiro was laying out three plates, some silverware, and the food when Keith saw someone jog into the room and sit next to Shiro’s seat.

“Hey Adam,” Keith glared at him and scrunched his eyebrows before mouthing the words “Really? You let this happen” as he put a few burnt breadsticks on his plate.

“Keith,” Adam pushed his lips together. Silently, Adam swung his arms into a kinda ‘I don't know what happened’ way. He mouthed back to Keith while gesturing at the food, “ I didn't think he was going to actually make stuff.”

When Shiro looked over at the two they quickly looked down as they began to put the stiff noodles on their plates. They entered a small silence as the two mourned their poor future stomachs, they would do it to appease Shiro; who surprising knew he was a bad cook yet would still surprise them with dinner.

Adam coughed to interrupt their moment of silence, ”So how was work at the store today?”

“It was fine,” he paused, resting his hand to the side of his face as he began to harshly stab the food, “Well that was until Lance Mcclain showed up.”

“Really he’s back in town?” Shiro froze, his dark grey eyes wide open. His hands began to spin his fork around in the Spaghetti, never quite latching on to the noodles. Setting his fork down, Shiro tapped his fingers, “I haven’t seen him out here since he went to the bar for Hunk’s bachelor party. That had to have been over a year ago.”

“Yeah, not only that,” Keith muttered, mouth now full of the cardboard-like food,” he’s going to be here all summer. How am I supposed to avoid him now?”

“Well you could just make up with him,” Shiro’s face hardened as he pondered, his finger tapping growing louder. Keith and Adam could practically see him entering into his ‘brotherly mode’. “You guys were pretty close before. Plus it’s been years he’s probably over it by now.”

“I’d say more than just close,” Adam mumbled not quite looking at either of them but instead looking down as he picked at his breadsticks. Shiro gave him a pointed look and softly punched him in the shoulder.

“Shiro you didn’t see the look on his face the last time we saw each other,” Keith hesitated a piece of his black hair falling in his eyes. He looked away from Shiro unable to meet his eyes, ”he just looked so heartbroken.”

“Keith I really think you guys should apologize, I mean it’s not like you can avoid him all summer,” Shiro insisted in a very firm, almost fatherly tone. “You guys are both adults now and a civil discussion could do you both some good.”

“I could certainly try to avoid him,” he said ignoring the second part of what Shiro said.

“I don’t think that’ll work.”

“I guess we won't know till I try.”

“Keith,” he tried to meet his eyes, to reach out for him mentally.

“Shiro,” he responded sharply still looking down as to not take Shiro's bait.

“Do you want to talk about what happened between you two? You've never really told anyone the whole story,” Shiro sounded worried which was not good. Plus his finger tapping had stopped, making the whole room quiet except for the buzz from the ceiling fan. For a second Keith considered it, but the idea was soon forgotten when memories of the event popped up in his mind. Weeks of silence. Sobbing teenage boys (which is never a good thing as far as Keith is concerned). Broken glass laying on the ground like sand surrounding a beach. Lines of blood, sweat, and tears mixing together as though they were drawn to each other like magnets to a fridge.

“Yeah I don’t think so,” Keith was tightly gripping and twisting a napkin in hands. Unable to completely focus on anything else, but the napkin. Distraught he continued to look at the napkin, avoiding any eye contact with Shiro, ”that story did not have a happy ending.”

“Keith-”

“Shiro can you just stop I don’t want to talk about this,” Keith hissed tearing the napkin in two. A frown adorned Shiro’s face. His eyes dropped a bit as he dragged his arm across the table towards Keith. Adam put a hand on Shiro’s arm and all Keith could hear was him say Takashi, before whispering something into his ear. Shiro nodded softly at Adam.

“I’m sorry Keith, I pushed you too far,” he consoled. His fingers were tightly wound together, except for his thumbs which were moving together as though they were having a thumb war. “If you ever need to talk about it Adam and I are always here for you.”

Dinner after that was remarkably silent with the occasional funny comment from Shiro or Adam. Keith tried to eat as much as possible in as short of a time span as possible so he could now avoid this very awkward situation he had put everyone in. His mouth was practically stuffed with the burnt spaghetti and breadsticks when he excused himself. However, before he could leave he felt a hand grab his forearm. Adam gestured for Keith to move down so he could hear him.

“I know I don’t know everything about you and Lance’s relationship, but from what I remember you guys were partners in crime, each other's right-hand man and were always if I’m correctly quoting Lance, “Lance and Keith neck in neck”. If you get the chance to have him back as at least your friend I would take the chance.”

 

* * *

 

All night Keith twisted and turned. No sleep position seemed comfortable enough. He tried to lay out like a log, that one position where you stuck your arms behind your head, and he even laid out like a spider. However, nothing seemed to be comfortable enough to sleep. The closest he could get was his normal fetal position, but this time it included his pillow being tucked between his arms. Adam’s words were a looping vinyl in his mind. He was right about Lance’s whole neck in neck spiel. While they had apparently been rivals, they had always had each other's back. Whether it was playing baseball or standing up to someone trying to pick a fight, they were always there for each other. Lance was there for him. Why couldn't Keith had been there for him more?

Keith rolled around to face the wall side of his bed. He stared up at some of the old pictures that were still taped up, along with some recent ones. A picture stood out to Keith, it had a large tear down the middle but had been taped back together. In the photo Keith stood in his baseball uniform, arms crossed lazily against his chest. His eyebrows were slightly raised and he wore a small grin. The smile was clearly directed at the boy next to him who was pushing Keith's hat into his hair. The photo was torn at the part where the two connected, separating them. The other boy on the largely torn side was none other than Lance. His eyes were squinting as a result of the large toothy smile that stretched across his face. In his hand was a baseball bat that gently laid on his shoulder as he made a small peace sign with the fingers that weren't holding the bat. Softly, Keith reached out and grazed the photo with his left hand. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to apologize to Lance. Maybe he would forgive him. Maybe they could even be friends again. Keith would most likely have to talk to him soon anyway, but he wouldn't do it this week. He’ll need a bit more courage first.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll try to upload soon after, but I might wait until I finish the third chapter.
> 
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